Issue 38 Hidden Treasures in the Minor ProphetsBlog | The prophet Joel
The prophet Joel
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 01.03.24
The book of the prophet Joel sits in our Bibles between the books of Hosea and Amos, but is quite distinct from them. Hosea and Amos are our earliest prophets, speaking to the northern kingdom of Israel before its exile in 722 BC. We know something of the authors, their context, and their setting. By contrast, Joel tells nothing about who he is, when he is writing, or what he is calling the people to repent of. So why was it considered an inspired book?
To answer that, we need to understand what Joel is saying, and how his message is taken up in the New Testament. The day of disaster The first chapter describes a series of environmental catastrophes that have taken place. Although there is mention of ‘fire’ and ‘drought’ towards the end of the chapter, the main event appears to be devastation wrought by plagues of locusts:
‘What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten’ (Joel 1:4).
The exact meaning of the four terms here is unclear – but the overall message is plain. Even today, locust swarms represent a real threat to life, as they can devour whole crops in hours.
But Joel adds two vital elements that take this beyond a mere lament over a natural disaster. Firstly, in common with other Old Testament writers, he believes God is sovereign over all that happens (1:15).
